# Oust Fan Alternative



## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Hey guys. I was at the Dollar store tonight with the little lady. As always I'm on the lookout for some MacGuyverable items. This time I spotted a little battery operated fan much like the discontinued Oust fan that many BOTLs use to circulate air in their humis.

$2 + tax. Not a bad deal considering it comes with batteries. For you Canadians, hit up Dollarama. If you can't find one let me know if you really want one and I'll see if I can get more. I accept various methods of payment... :mischief: ...wait that sounded dirty...I meant cigars....I'd accept cigars as payment.:smokin:

The fan itself is unscented. It comes with Mentholated Cherry Scented pads that you don't have to put in.









Front. Green LED when fan is on.









Back. Battery compartment.









Side. Momentary on/off switch.









Bottom has foam padding.


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## seaotter (Mar 10, 2011)

That looks like it would do the trick. I'll have to start searching!

Thanks for the heads up.

Scott


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## 96p993 (Dec 30, 2010)

You planning on tearing it apart? Would love to see pics of the dissection..


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## dezyrme (Dec 23, 2010)

Damn Hekthor... Good looking out


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## [email protected] (Feb 16, 2011)

Awesome find! I hope I can find one here at a dollar store in America. Ive been meaning to get one for my coolidor. This will definitely save me money if I can find one. Thanks.


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

96p993 said:


> You planning on tearing it apart? Would love to see pics of the dissection..


Done!

Using a #1 Phillips screwdriver, remove the bottom screw to release the base/battery door. Note the metal thread in the screw hole. designed to be opened many times without wearing out. This is a well built unit.


















The two AAA batteries actually sit in a nice caddy for easy swaps.









Undo remaining four screws to crack the case in half.


















Three more screws hold the fan assembly to the case.









Tiny PCB with power button. It's not a simple OC/CC switch but rather a momentary switch which the circuit then converts to on/off.


















Fan Assembly - that's a Canadian quarter dollar...should be the same size as an American quarter.









Notice the self-contained DC motor. Again, well built.


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

I just realized that from the side, this thing looks sort of like R2D2.


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## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Very cool alternative, Puff will clean out the $ stores now LoL!


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## StogieJim (Sep 18, 2010)

Is a fan necessary for a 70qt? If so I might have to jump on this 

LOL at the r2d2 comparison!

Jim


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## [email protected] (Feb 16, 2011)

StogieJim said:


> Is a fan necessary for a 70qt? If so I might have to jump on this
> 
> LOL at the r2d2 comparison!
> 
> Jim


Yea man you should get one, you have a pretty large coolidor so it'll help move air around so you dont have too much humidity in one spot. It'll make sure you humidity is even throughout.


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Glad I could help! Thanks for the RG bumps guys.


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## bazookajoe (Nov 2, 2006)

Does it cycle on and off?


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## Batista30 (Sep 13, 2010)

bazookajoe said:


> Does it cycle on and off?


This is what I'd like to know.


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## Fury556 (Oct 10, 2010)

Batista30 said:


> This is what I'd like to know.


Me three :smoke:


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## Boston Rog (Jan 5, 2011)

me 4:?:


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## [email protected] (Feb 16, 2011)

5! :brick:


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Looks like it runs continuously.

$2 on Amazon!


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## mike91LX (Aug 12, 2009)

you'll have to let us know how long it takes to kill the 2 AA batteries when its running constantly. hopefully they last a decent amount of time and wont be too big of a pain with rechargeable batteries


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## Batista30 (Sep 13, 2010)

IMO, that's a waste of the battery. Hekthor, if you wouldn't mind experimenting for the rest of us, could you run it continuously and see how long the battery lasts? Best case scenario, I don't see the battery lasting a long time because it's not meant for this type of usage.

And I got excited about this!


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

It just turned the fan off but the LED is still on. This was after about 30 min of running. Looks like it cycles. I'll keep an eye on it. THis would make sense though, why else would they invest in a convoluted on off switch circuit if it didn't serve another function.


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## Rock31 (Sep 30, 2010)

Looks like it has some sort of auto-stop, from their site:

# Continuous 8-hour flow of non-medicated soothing vapors
# Auto shut-off to increase battery life


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

its already back on again.


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## Batista30 (Sep 13, 2010)

From the Triaminic website: Flows for 1 hour and then 5 minutes of rest.

Triaminic® Flowing Vapors® - Portable Vapor Fan - Ingredients, Dosing & Safety Information

Edit: I wish it were flowing for 5 minutes with an hour of rest. lol.


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## russ812 (Aug 14, 2010)

Batista30 said:


> From the Triaminic website: Flows for 1 hour and then 5 minutes of rest.
> 
> Triaminic® Flowing Vapors® - Portable Vapor Fan - Ingredients, Dosing & Safety Information
> 
> Edit: I wish it were flowing for 5 minutes with an hour of rest. lol.


Hmm...if that's true, might it only be a matter of desoldering the switch and reversing the on/off? I don't know too much about electronics, but 5 min on/1 hour off would have this whole forum running for the dollar store. 










Maybe someone electronics savvy can look at this and see if reversing the on/off time is an easy hack?


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## dpcoz (Aug 24, 2010)

What we need is someone with circuitry skills to teach us what to buy at radio shack and how to put it together. I happen to believe qn assembly can't bs all that difficult, as long as a small timer circuit could be inserted into the fan. 

I'll look into it...


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## BDog (Oct 19, 2010)

russ812 said:


> Hmm...if that's true, might it only be a matter of desoldering the switch and reversing the on/off? I don't know too much about electronics, but 5 min on/1 hour off would have this whole forum running for the dollar store.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Desoldering the switch and flipping it_ will not_ allow you to change the time duration that the fan runs and shuts off. Actually it would have no effect on the circuit and it would still operate the same way it was designed.
That switch is a switch that when depressed electrically connects the two solder pads on the right side of the circuit to the 2 solder pads on the left side momentarily.

The time duration appears to be set by a resistor and capacitor network that supports the internal time function of an onboard IC - Integrated Circuit.

The only way to change duration would be to substitute different resistor and capacitors and then observe how this changes the on and off time duration of the fan. This is largely trial and error unless someone has the schematic. The schematic for the circuit will list all the paths and interconnects between the components and the values that are currently used for the resistors and caps.

Lots of work for not much gain in my estimation. I am curious if there is an IC under that circular black pad on the board??? I would bet there is a small surface mount IC that is hiding beneath that adhesive black pad. The adhesive pad is there to act as a shield and protect the multiple pins from shorting to one another.

My :2


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## BDog (Oct 19, 2010)

What could be done is to determine the model of the IC and then look up its spec sheet. That would give all the pin outs and indicate what the internal circuit was doing. Then it would be a matter of finding another IC with the same number of pins and pin outs that was in the same "family" of chips , but had different durations. Thats if one even exists.


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## socalocmatt (Dec 22, 2010)

Its just easier to buy a variable cycle timer kit. I have three of them. This is a pic of the one I consider to be the best. Right now I have it at 40 min off / 10 min on.

You can buy them from Electronic Kits. The one pictured that I think is the best on IMO is model # UK191M60. Understand that the case is sold separate.
60 Minute Cycle Kit
60 Minute Cycle Kit Case

Here is a pic of it hooked up to a CPU fan. You can use PC fan Y connectors if you wanna run multiple fans.


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## Ammosmoke (Jan 25, 2011)

That is a pretty cool device even if it isn't the perfect timing. Personally, I'd just hook up a $4 PC fan with a thrift store 12v adapter and call it good. I mean, if you wanted to get REALLY advanced you could hook up an outlet sprinkler timer and plug the adapter into that.

Oh, Matt beat and 1up'd me. Oh well. LOL.


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## MattNJ (Feb 11, 2011)

awesome find! I will be very interested to see how long those batteries last with the current settings.

Super pumped!


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

I left it on all night and all day. When I got home from work it was off. I turned it on again and its still going strong.


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## Batista30 (Sep 13, 2010)

Hekthor, I'm assuming from your experience you're saying it goes on for 1 hour, rests for 5 minutes. And, it does for up to 8 hours before you need to turn it on again for it to continue with the cycle?

There has to be ways to modify this. As before, we'll just wait for someone to tinker with it so we can get some updated info.

Thanks for the update Hekthor.


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Batista30 said:


> Hekthor, I'm assuming from your experience you're saying it goes on for 1 hour, rests for 5 minutes. And, it does for up to 8 hours before you need to turn it on again for it to continue with the cycle?
> 
> There has to be ways to modify this. As before, we'll just wait for someone to tinker with it so we can get some updated info.
> 
> Thanks for the update Hekthor.


Yeah, it looks like that's what's going on. It seems as though it may not be the best stand alone solution until its timer is reconfigured. The only good thing about it vs one requiring an AC adapter is that your humi seal wont be affected by any wires. I'm going to look into a small formfactor timer. I've got some experience building circuits with relay configurations so I'll see what I can dig up.


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Four of these are on their way to "whodeeni" tomorrow morning. Hope you enjoy them bro!


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## 3smokesaround (Jan 29, 2011)

I'll definitely be on the lookout for some of these. Thanks for the heads-up.


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## d32 (Jan 26, 2010)

you could flip the 1hr on/ 5min off cycle using a relay, although the relay itself would still be drawing whatever power it does for the whole hour on cycle. that would be a real simple mod


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Ok. The batteries finally died this morning. It ran for a total of 40hrs. Meaning I started it 5 times and it ran its 8hr cycle.

I have been looking at making a LM555 based timer for these fans that would extend the battery life by cycling on and off at a more favorable rate.


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## 68 Lotus (Jan 13, 2011)

I picked up this small fan for the camper..Valterra Products, Inc. A10-2604 3 Volt Fridgemate Inside Air Circulating Fan..>>shown on page if follow link...

It also has others for differing needs!....:hmm:.Solar powered??....And NO I'm not a green-ie! :lol:

Amazon.com: rv refrigerator fan


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

Looks like a great option actually. 30 days on 2 D-cell batteries. Good price too $14.78.


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## Veteran.V (Oct 14, 2010)

I bought a bunch of these about 2 months ago for the same reason and found that it ate too many batteries in a short amount of time... The flow of air coming out after cutting all the vents out, seemed to slow! so I scrapped em


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## d32 (Jan 26, 2010)

how about taking an old dc power supply like for a cell phone charger or something and just hard wiring them


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## bbasaran (Mar 20, 2011)

First of all I would like to thank *HWiebe* for sharing all the information. I believe I can ask some people to change the board with a 1 h off and 5-10 minute on. I hope I can bring some good info back.


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## HWiebe (Jul 13, 2010)

HWiebe said:


> Four of these are on their way to "whodeeni" tomorrow morning. Hope you enjoy them bro!


Have not received compensation for these yet...cigar bombs lost in the mail twice aparently.oke:


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## JPinDC (Feb 14, 2008)

Veteran.V said:


> I bought a bunch of these about 2 months ago for the same reason and found that it ate too many batteries in a short amount of time... The flow of air coming out after cutting all the vents out, seemed to slow! so I scrapped em


This. I just removed mine partly because I wanted the room they took up in the vinodor but also because I could barely feel any air at all being moved by them. I don't think these ever did anything except make me think I was going high tech in the humidor.


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